The energy radiating from the guy—B-rank.
After his failed assassination attempt on me, escaping from Ryu Sunghyun was utterly impossible.
The cult bastard seemed well aware of that. Even as he was being violently dragged away, bound by golden skill threads, he didn’t struggle.
Watching him get hauled in, lying face-down and scraping along the ground, a strange sense of unease crept over me.
'Something’s off.'
I already knew the cult had gotten ahold of some information about me and Cha Sahyeon. That’s why Sahyeon kept assigning me shadow escorts and didn’t want to leave my side.
They must’ve noticed I was interfering with their operations and wanted to eliminate me before I could sabotage this latest plan.
So sure—hiding in the garden to try to take me out made sense.
But...
'Why does this feel so wrong?'
I furrowed my brow—then /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ heard a twisted chuckle from the ground beneath me.
“Kiheek...”
When I looked down, the cultist was staring up at me with a crooked grin plastered on his half-turned face.
“Wow, he’s laughing?”
Scoffing, I crouched down beside him.
“Come on, tell me what’s so funny. I wanna laugh too.”
What the hell kind of lunatic had the cult sent as an assassin?
Ignoring me completely, the bastard kept giggling like a madman.
I slammed his throat down into the dirt with my hand.
“Slow to realize your situation, huh?”
“Grrk—gah!”
“Just because we’re taking you alive doesn’t mean I’ll go easy.”
I pressed down gently on his windpipe as a warning, then eased up just a bit to ask,
“How many of you came into the hotel?”
“...”
“What’s your objective?”
“...”
“Hm. Yeah. Didn’t think you’d be so cooperative.”
I hadn’t expected much anyway.
'If only we had a hypnotist around, this would be way easier.'
If we could brainwash him, he’d spill everything on command. Clicking my tongue, I kept a hand on his neck while rifling through his clothes.
No way he snuck into a hotel with nothing but a dagger.
The cult had been planting those weird “flower” things as a source of power or whatever, so it was likely he brought one this time too. But his pockets and chest were empty—nothing came up.
'Damn. Does he have an inventory system?'
I clicked my tongue again and started checking smaller accessories.
That’s when it happened.
“Curious, are you?”
“...!”
A voice, so raspy and metallic it made my ears curl, stabbed into me.
It was still the cultist—but his voice no longer sounded human.
“If you’re curious, I can tell you.”
“...What?”
Was this even the same guy from a moment ago?
“It’s natural for the foolish to seek truth.”
“...Hah.”
He wasn’t mocking me, nor did he seem angry—his tone was disturbingly calm, like he was stating an obvious fact.
“Alright then. Go ahead. Tell me. What truth do you guys worship so damn much?”
“It’s simple.”
Half his face still buried in the dirt, he kept speaking.
“Truth is death.”
“...That’s it?”
“It’s simple, but never easy.”
“...”
“Death is the beginning of all things. Our Order has studied death for a long time.”
Studied death.
Maybe that meant they were researching the afterlife—but something about how he said death felt... different.
“How the hell does death become a beginning?”
“Because we believe.”
“What?”
I narrowed my eyes at the nonsensical answer—
—and immediately felt heat spreading across my palm.
It traveled from the cultist’s throat, up through my hand.
“My death... is meaningless. But I believe...”
“Hey.”
“I can return. Death is just the start—”
The man, mumbling in delirium, suddenly grabbed the hand I’d been using to search his inventory.
“Hunter Cha Seohu!”
Ryu Sunghyun, who had been watching warily, rushed toward me—but I shook my head. I had a gut feeling this guy was about to say something important.
“You... heh... you’re like me.”
“...”
“I know it. Your eyes—they’re just like mine.”
He lifted his face, bound as he was, and pushed close. I couldn’t understand how he had that kind of strength left.
“People who can’t overcome loss always have that look. I know it too well. No mistaking it. Our Order... is full of guys like you.”
“...”
“Death is just a moment. Even if I die, the Order and He will carry on. That alone... is enough.”
With a jolt, the black cloth tied around his mouth came loose.
His lips—faded to a corpse-like purple—trembled as they moved.
“When I open... my eyes again...”
Heat surged.
The pale skin of his face began to twist, rapidly staining with a grotesque color.
I instinctively stepped back—and in that same moment, Ryu Sunghyun sprang in, grabbing my shoulder and throwing both of us backward.
“If you were... there...”
A burst of golden light exploded.
The cultist, now swollen like an overfilled water balloon, vanished into it.
“...it would’ve been... nice...”
A horrific sound rang out.
Chunks of flesh drenched in blood rained down like a storm. The stench of blood thickened the air.
My stomach churned.
Ryu Sunghyun, who had deployed a semicircular shield with his skill, whispered in revulsion,
“He must’ve been carrying a self-detonation item for when he was discovered.”
I lowered my head slowly.
'Maybe... he triggered it himself.'
We’d finally caught a live one—and he blew himself to pieces just like that.
I hadn’t found anything during the body search, so it was probably a bomb hidden inside him.
I thought back to the last thing he said.
“Eyes that can't overcome loss...”
My mouth tasted bitter.
“Hunter Cha Seohu.”
A hand touched my shoulder.
When I looked up, I saw Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes, filled with concern.
“...”
Whenever I was this close to him, it reminded me of the past timeline.
This Ryu Sunghyun acted just like the one I knew.
But somewhere along the way... a subtle disconnect had started to grow.
He had to be the same person—so why did he feel more and more like someone else as time went on?
Was it because we’d lived through different experiences?
Because I wasn’t a B-rank anymore?
Or...
Had the Ryu Sunghyun from before the regression become an entirely different person?
The version of him I’d wanted to protect from the start—was he already gone for good?
And this Ryu Sunghyun, standing here in front of me—
“Hunter Cha Seohu.”
Pain rose from my shoulder under his grip.
I blinked—and my blurred vision sharpened to reveal Ryu Sunghyun’s bitter smile.
“Who are you looking at?”
“...!”
“I’m the one standing here.”
Ah.
For a split second, my breath caught in my chest.
Panic rose inside me—he couldn’t know. I opened my mouth instinctively, but I had no excuse. He’d caught me red-handed.
I couldn’t meet the gaze of those identical eyes anymore.
In the end, I lowered my head and apologized.
“...I’m sorry.”
“...Hah. Honestly... I can’t really say it’s fine.”
Ryu Sunghyun let out a hollow laugh and stood up. Then he grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet.
After hesitating briefly, he asked,
“...Is he dead?”
“...”
I didn’t answer.
I didn’t want to be the one to say that Sunghyun-hyung had died. Saying it aloud wasn’t the same as accepting it—it felt like betrayal.
As I stayed silent, Ryu Sunghyun watched me with a complicated expression, then finally spoke again.
“Was that person...”
Giiiiiiiing!
“Ugh!”
A sharp pain exploded in my ears. I clutched them reflexively.
“What the...?”
A bizarre, high-pitched sound rang from the sky.
I’d heard it before.
A chill raced down my spine. I looked up in a rush—and above us, sparks of blood-red light were flaring across the clouds in the night sky.
'A rift...!'
An irregular rift—just like the one I saw at Royal Palace!
'Wait—where exactly is it opening?'
From the garden, I couldn’t get a clear view, but one thing was obvious: it was outside the hotel.
“Vice-Guildmaster, let’s go!”
We had to get back to the venue immediately and report this.
Ryu Sunghyun and I sprinted toward the hotel.
'I wonder if they’re doing okay.'
Kwon Taehyuk, sipping water instead of wine just in case, glanced toward the entrance of the venue.
It had been a long time since Cha Seohu and Ryu Sunghyun left. They still hadn’t returned—and there’d been no contact either.
Given how big the hotel was, he knew it’d take a while to search thoroughly. He understood that logically—but he couldn’t shake the restless feeling in his body.
'Should I just pretend to go to the bathroom and sneak out?'
As the inner conflict grew stronger, Kwon Taehyuk finally gave in and set down his glass—
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Shrill alarms began sounding from every direction.
“Oh my.”
“What’s happening all of a sudden?”
People around him fumbled for their phones with startled faces. Taehyuk pulled his own from inside his suit jacket and checked the screen.
“...!”
A bright red alert filled the display.
An emergency disaster warning.
As soon as he processed what it meant, a call came in.
—“Sir! The Association has issued an urgent summons! Rift readings are spiking in Gangnam!”

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